Following the Medical Examiner’s ruling that the former child star died of AIDS, Pratt blasted Los Angeles, asking why “nobody dragged her to rehab.”
The official cause of death for former child star Daveigh Chase has been revealed, nearly two weeks after the actress died at age 35.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, Chase’s primary cause of death was AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The report also listed chronic polysubstance use as another significant condition contributing to her death. The medical examiner’s website also indicates she died in a hospital. Los Angeles has requested a full autopsy report.
Credit: Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office
Chase, who voiced Lilo in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and terrified audiences as Samara Morgan in The Ring, died June 16 after being hospitalized with meningitis, severe blood infections and sepsis. These are conditions that can occur in people whose immune systems have been severely compromised. Chase was reportedly seen on Skid Row months before her death, appearing to be on drugs.
The Medical Examiner’s findings came as reality television personality and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt weighed in on Chase’s death, expressing frustration over the city’s handling of addiction and homelessness.
In a post on X, Pratt questioned why Chase was allowed to deteriorate on the streets instead of being forced into treatment. “This poor beautiful girl is dead because nobody was willing to drag her to rehab against her will,” he wrote. Pratt has been known to harshly criticize Los Angeles’ response to homelessness and substance abuse, calling out Mayor Karen Bass, during and after his mayoral campaign.
Scroll to continue reading
According to her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, Chase had battled addiction for years and had recently experienced homelessness in downtown Los Angeles. Hernandez previously said she was initially hospitalized for severe malnutrition before developing meningitis and multiple bloodstream infections that ultimately became septic.
Her mother has argued against claims that the family abandoned Chase, telling media outlets they repeatedly tried to help her but that addiction made treatment extraordinarily difficult. She said her daughter’s struggles began after a 2016 motorcycle accident that resulted in prescriptions for pain medication and spiraled into substance dependence.
Before her life unraveled, Chase was considered one of Hollywood’s most successful child actors.
She voiced Lilo Pelekai in Disney’s 2002 animated hit Lilo & Stitch, provided the English voice of Chihiro in the Academy Award-winning Spirited Away, portrayed the unforgettable Samara in The Ring, and appeared in Donnie Darko, HBO’s Big Love, ER, CSI, and numerous other television series and films. Her final acting credits came in 2016 with the independent films Jack Goes Home and American Romance.
Her official cause of death created an outpouring of grief from fans who remember Chase as one of the defining child stars of the early 2000s.